Sony has formally killed off Harmony and is shuttering the studio behind the sport. Harmony‘s servers had been taken down simply two weeks after the launch of the aggressive staff shooter from Firewalk Studios after poor gross sales. Firewalk’s recreation director Ryan Ellis selected to move himself right into a extra supportive position following Harmony‘s struggles, and Sony had mentioned it could take into account its choices for the undertaking. The choice is in.
“After a lot thought, we’ve decided the perfect path ahead is to completely sundown the sport and shut the studio,” Hermen Hulst of Sony Interactive Leisure’s Studio Enterprise Group mentioned in a statement right this moment. “I wish to thank all of Firewalk for his or her craftsmanship, inventive spirit and dedication.” A consultant instructed Bloomberg News that Firewalk Studios had 172 staff who will lose their jobs.
The net recreation enterprise is brutal, and Harmony could have suffered for its lengthy growth time, which meant different staff shooters had already risen to prominence and outlined gamers’ expectations. Many comparable video games are free to play and help themselves financially with a battle cross or seasonal mannequin. Avid gamers could have balked on the $40 price ticket for a brand new property, or perhaps the style was just too crowded for Harmony to muscle in.
Regardless of the causes, right this moment’s information marks one other troublesome chapter for the sport growth world. Firewalk Studios is an outlier for having this stage of economic failure, but it surely’s nonetheless one more closure within the business that has seen a whole lot of turbulence in recent times. Layoffs and shutdowns have been a top story in gaming, however a number of of the latest instances have been like Firewalk, which was acquired by Sony Interactive Leisure simply final spring. Netflix abruptly shut down its AAA studio final week earlier than the staff had even introduced a undertaking. Microsoft closed three studios from the Zenimax household earlier this yr. As fewer events management a rising share of the video games business, the tolerance for experimentation and slim revenue margins will doubtless shrink too. And one of these sudden upheaval may develop into all of the extra frequent.
Replace, October 29, 2024, 2:52PM ET: Story up to date with further context about Harmony, Firewalk Studios’ workers numbers and broader studio closure developments.
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